Casualties

Diatribes? I've got your diatribes! Here's a good one: USA military casualties over the centuries.

WAR	BRANCH OF SERVICE	BATTLE DEATHS PER 100,000 SERVING	OTHER DEATHS PER 100,000 SERVING	TOTAL DEATHS PER 100,000 SERVING	WOUNDS-NOT- MORTAL PER 100,000 SERVING	TOTAL CASUALTIES PER 100,000 SERVING

1812	TOTAL	788	-	-	1,571	-

MEXICO	TOTAL	2,201	14,672	16,874	5,274	22,148
	ARMY	-	-	-	-	-
	NAVY	-	-	-	-	-
	MARINES	-	-	-	-	-

CIVIL	TOTAL	6,343	10,124	16,468	12,735	29,204
	ARMY	6,489	10,398	16,887	13,153	30,041
	NAVY	-	-	-	-	-
	MARINES	175	369	544	155	700

SPAIN	TOTAL	125	671	797	541	1,339
	ARMY	131	734	866	568	1,434
	NAVY	43	-	-	205	-
	MARINES	180	-	-	632	-

WWI	TOTAL	1,127	1,332	2,460	4,308	6,769
	ARMY	1,244	1,377	2,622	4,773	7,395
	NAVY	71	1,144	1,216	136	1,353
	MARINES	3,121	494	3,616	12,075	15,691

WWII	TOTAL	1,809	706	2,516	4,169	6,685
	ARMY	2,085	740	2,826	5,025	7,851
	NAVY	883	613	1,496	903	2,399
	MARINES	2,949	714	3,663	10,193	13,857

KOREA	TOTAL	588	57	645	1,805	2,450
	ARMY	977	86	1,064	2,738	3,802
	NAVY	40	14	55	133	188
	MARINES	1,006	79	1,086	5,600	6,686
	AIR FORCE	93	23	116	28	145

VIETNAM	TOTAL	541	123	665	1,753	2,418
	ARMY	707	166	874	2,216	3,090
	NAVY	88	50	139	226	365
	MARINES	1,647	220	1,868	6,472	8,341
	AIR FORCE	100	48	148	53	201

The figures from the wars in Korea and Vietnam are a little misleading when compared with those from the world wars. During the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the armed forces also had large numbers of people serving in Cold War missions, which were extremely low-casualty. A better comparison would be the number (and casualties) of military persons who served in Korea or Vietnam, versus the number (and casualties) of military persons who served overseas during either of the world wars. However, the above numbers are the ones of interest to a person being conscripted in either 1943 or 1968.

First, everyone knows that the Civil War (figures-per-100,000 are for the Union side only) was quite deadly. People forget that the Mexican War was just as deadly. In both cases, putting on the uniform was literally like playing a game of Russian roulette: you had a one out of six chance of getting killed.

Second, casualties come on the ground. Soldiers take casualties – of all sorts – at three to twenty-five times the rate taken by sailors (or airmen). Marines take casualties at a rate two or three times as much as that.